What does vasodilator mean?
A vasodilator is a substance that widens blood vessels, allowing blood to flow more easily through them. In medicine, vasodilators may be used to treat conditions involving inadequate blood flow or excessive vascular resistance, including certain cases of hypertension and angina. Drugs such as nitroglycerin are well-known examples, while the body also produces endogenous vasodilators, including nitric oxide. The word is primarily used in clinical, pharmacological, and physiological contexts and has a technical rather than everyday character. It can describe either a medicine or a naturally occurring biological agent. The term is also useful because it clearly identifies the direction of a vessel's response: a vasodilator widens vessels, whereas a vasoconstrictor narrows them. Although the word belongs mainly to specialist medicine, it appears regularly in health reporting and is widely understood wherever cardiovascular health is discussed.
nounA drug or other substance that causes blood vessels to widen, increasing blood flow or reducing vascular resistance.
- A substance, medicine, or physiological agent that causes blood vessels to widen.
"The doctor prescribed a vasodilator to help relax the patient's blood vessels."
"The doctor prescribed a vasodilator to help relax the patient's blood vessels."
"Nitric oxide acts as a natural vasodilator in the body."
The standard plural is used when referring to more than one vasodilator drug, substance, or agent.
"Several vasodilators are used to treat high blood pressure."
The name says it plainly: a vasodilator is a vessel-widener.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Where does vasodilator come from?
Vasodilator is a scientific English formation built from the combining form "vaso-", derived from Latin vas, meaning "vessel," and "dilator," an agent noun based on Latin dilatare, meaning "to widen" or "expand." The resulting term literally describes something that dilates blood vessels. Its components reflect the terminology of nineteenth- and twentieth-century medicine, in which vas- and related forms were widely used for blood vessels and vascular structures.
Related word forms
How vasodilator is actually used
This is chiefly a formal medical and pharmacological noun. It commonly appears in discussions of cardiovascular medicine, hypertension, angina, and blood-vessel physiology, and it may also function attributively in phrases such as "vasodilator drug."
Easily confused with vasodilator
A vasodilator widens blood vessels, whereas a vasoconstrictor narrows them.